BSkyB’s goal of reaching 10 million ­customers is “accelerating” as recession-hit Brits shun night outs to stay at home to watch high-definition television.

Sky said yesterday it had added a ­better-than-expected 94,000 new users in its first quarter. It now has 9.54million ­customers spending an average of £469 a year, up from £430 last time. “We will get to 10 million customers by the end of next year,” said a spokesman. “We’re accelerating.”

He said the growth over the three months to the end of September had been driven by 287,000 new customers for its Sky+ High Definition service, a threefold rise on last year. It now has 1.6million HD customers. The number of people leaving Sky rose from 9.9 per cent to 11 per cent quarter-on-quarter. The shares fell 6½p to 553p.

“In these tough economic times people are choosing to spend more on home entertainment,” said a spokesman. “They are looking to upgrade their TV viewing and get better quality. People are responding to the value of our service in comparison to a family night out at the cinema or in a restaurant.” He said Sky’s coverage of the British Lions series in South Africa as well as the Ashes and UK drama had attracted new customers. “It was a great summer of sport, some of it successful, some of it not,” the spokesman said. “The Christmas period will also be important for us.”

Sky has cut prices to help boost sales of the Sky+ HD service, costing the company £33million in the quarter. But its strong trading left them with an 11 per cent rise in operating profits to £198million on revenues up 10 per cent to £1.38billion. Chief executive ­Jeremy Darroch said there had been a growth in the number of households signing up to Sky Broadband, adding: “Our business has made a good start to our 2010 financial year in a tough economic environment.”

Sky blamed a hike in direct-to-home subscriptions and stricter policies on customers in arrears for the rise in customers leaving. Darroch said he had seen no improvement in the economy and that ­visibility was “poor”. Numis analyst Paul Richards said: “HD has had another storming quarter. It is miles ahead.”

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